The city of Judah
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Luke 1:39) — the city in which Zacharias, father of the Forerunner, lived. Here, to the house of Zacharias, the Most Holy Virgin Mary went immediately after the Annunciation. Here she was met by her kinswoman Elizabeth, wife of Zacharias, and here she spent about three months after the appearance to her of the Archangel Gabriel (Luke 1:40–55); finally, here John the Forerunner was born and spent his childhood (57–80). This city is undoubtedly the same one that in the Old Testament is called a city appointed for the dwelling of sacred persons, and in the book of Joshua is called Juttah (15:55; 21:16).
At present, on its site stands the small village of Yutta, to the south of Jerusalem, somewhat further than Hebron. In it live up to 500 Muslim Arabs, and it is indeed situated in an extensive mountain hollow, on the lower slope of the hills, in the hill country, as St. Luke the Evangelist says of it (Luke 1:39).